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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Thu May 28, 2020, 03:30 AM May 2020

Indigenous leader calls for help in Brazil's biggest reserve



As the coronavirus spreads into Brazil's indigenous lands, killing at least 40 people so far by the government’s count, the first two COVID-19 deaths were registered this week in the Xingu area, which is one of the biggest reserves in the world

By YESICA FISCH and MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press
May 27, 2020, 11:07 PM
3 min read



Pedro dos Santos, the leader of a community named Park of Indigenous Nations, stands outside a small market in Manaus, Brazil, Sunday, May 10, 2020. As the coronavirus spreads into Brazil's indigenous lands, the first two COVID-19 deaths were registered this week in the Xingu area, which is one of the biggest reserves in the world. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)Pedro dos Santos, the leader of a community named Park of Indigenous Nations, stands outside a small market in Manaus, Brazil, Sunday, May 10, 2020. As the coronavirus spreads into Brazil's indigenous lands, the first two COVID-19 deaths were registered this week in the Xingu area, which is one of the biggest reserves in the world. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

The Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO -- As the coronavirus spreads into indigenous lands in Brazil, killing at least 40 people so far by the governmnt's count, the first two COVID-19 deaths were registered this week in the Xingu area, one of the biggest reserves in the world.

The two fatalities were in the Kayapo indigenous group, which has reported a total of 22 virus cases. The community's leader, Megaron, told The Associated Press he wants President Jair Bolsonaro and other officials to stop loggers, miners and fishermen from illegally entering the territory, incursions he believes have sped up the spread of the virus.

Bolsonaro has encouraged development in the Amazon, regardless of indigenous lands, although the state-run indigenous agency, FUNAI, issued an order in mid-March barring access to those lands because of the virus. Still, reports in Brazilian media have said missionaries, health care agents, loggers and miners carried the virus into those areas.

“It is not us that are leaving and taking (the virus). There are people seizing this disease to invade indigenous land,” Megaron said.

He received questions from AP on May 13, but his team wasn’t able to get his response back until Wednesday due to their remote location in Xingu, which covers more than 2,600,000 hectares (more than 10,000 square miles) in the middle of Brazil. It is home to more than 5,500 indigenous people of 14 ethnic groups.

More:
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/indigenous-leader-calls-brazils-biggest-reserve-70919573
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